City Council to discuss incentives for businesses, chickens in Anderson

ANDERSON - The Anderson City Council plans to vote Monday on whether to approve economic incentive packages for two downtown businesses and whether to allow residents to keep chickens in the city.

The council will consider whether to give a $24,000 incentive to Electric Investments LLC for the expansion of The Bleckley Inn and a $40,000 incentive to M and F Enterprises for the opening of the Mellow Mushroom restaurant. The inn and the restaurant are on Main Street.

If approved, the incentives would be paid in increments over the next five years, with the final payment to be made in 2017, according to the council meeting agenda. Both would be paid for out of the city's general operating fund.

What: Anderson City Council meeting

When: Monday, 6 p.m.

Where: 401 S. Main St. in downtown Anderson

For more information, call City Hall, 864-231-2200.

The city council created an economic incentive plan in 2010 in an effort to lure developers and business owners to downtown. A developer must make a minimum investment of $300,000 in a project in downtown to qualify for an incentive.

According to the agenda, the expansion at The Bleckley Inn will cost $314,785, while the opening of and renovations to the Mellow Mushroom cost $535,850.

Earlier this year, Steve Kay, who owns Electric Investments, began the renovations to the two-story building at corner of Main Street and Benson Street where J Peters Bar and Grill operates. Kay is renovating the building's exterior and second floor.

The second floor will be turned into six new hotel rooms, which will serve as an addition to the nearby Bleckley Inn, and a two-bedroom apartment. A patio will be added to the roof, and that space could be used for dinner party.

In spring 2011, the Mellow Mushroom opened on South Main Street.

Information provided to council members for the meeting indicates that both developments have improved downtown, have created jobs for the community, and are a benefit to the city's overall tax base. The Bleckley Inn expansion will generate a $3,049 increase in tax revenue for the city annually, and the Mellow Mushroom will generate $12,598 in extra tax revenue each year, according to the packet.

Also at the meeting Monday, the council will take a full vote on whether to allow a city resident to keep up to four egg-laying hens in a backyard.

The matter was brought before the council by a local high school student and has been discussed a couple of times by the council's planning committee. Now a proposed ordinance will be voted on by the full council.

The ordinance was modeled after similar ordinances that have been approved in other South Carolina cities.

According to the proposal residents could keep hens, but not roosters. There would be some regulations about how far away the chickens would need to be from property lines.